Determination of uranium, thorium and potassium rates in building materials in Kutahya province

All living creatures in the world are exposed to radiation coming from natural anda man-made radionuclides. Natural radiation makes the largest contribution to the total radiation dose, and has three major sources: terrestrial radiation, cosmic radiation and inter radiation because of the intake of natural radionuclides through inhalation (mainly radon) and ingestion. Terrestrial radiation sources include the ground, rocks, air, building materials and drinking water supplies. In this study, the analysis of natural radioactivity from 238U, 232Th ve 40K in 45 building material sample collected from the province of Kütahya and Afyon were carried out using a NaI(Tl) gamma-ray spectroscopy system. The determined activity values and the annual effective dose values were compared with the UNSCEAR 2000 report and the other studies found in literature.